Tour de France

Love it when Cav confiscated the camera / tape from the journo. For me he's top value when he is not in media-trained mode and comes out all lary i.e. his true inner self.

That's a pretty wild conspircay theory .

I protest

It’s fairly common for profession cycle racers to adjust the saddle-height to a lower position during the mountain stages, it’s so they can sit back and push for a long period of time. The climbs are far too long to be 'out of the saddle' all the time.

Debs

Poor Alclenbuterolo Contador 

No it isn't.

Winky you are a twit sometimes.

Firstly you quote me out of context giving it a different meaning from what i actually said, and then you disagree with it.

But what the heck, what i said was explained to me by a ex-Pro Tour de France cyclist.

Debs

When Contador comes off on a descent due to a failure of his judgement/skills (as opposed to being delayed by a mechanical/tacks on the road or being part of somebody else's accident) should those up front have waited?

Froome's seat height looks low by conventional standards all the tIme including his TT position.. He does not extend his knee at the bottom of the stroke to the 'conventional' degree. I am sure a Sky boffin has run the numbers! I wonder if it is partly an effect of him running asymmetric Q rotors, or perhaps a short crank length.

Serious respect to Froome's yet again, holding nothing back. He has won both individual TT's and 2 summit finishes, and who would bet against him today. Dominating the event so far.

Bruce

Doped or not, that's the question for me - haven't seen a weak day, which is strange....

Looking forward to tonight's stage.  Yup, coverage starts about now ( 10 pm local time here).  I will need coffee tonight, I'm already tired after last night.  Maybe I need some of those drugs everyone is supposed to be taking.  I give the benefit of the doubt and enjoy the competition and scenery on face value.

Who told you this? I can find evidence that it is done occassionally (yes, on mountain stages), but not that it is "fairly common".

If it was common would we not have seen a number of bike changes or seat-height adjustments at the foot of Mt Ventoux (which was long, fast and flat all day, until a monster climb)? I saw none on the coverage I was watching. Did Froome lower his seat at the foot of the climb? Or did he ride most of the day on a seat that was lower than ideal? Or does he ride with the same seat height all the time?

Naughty Froome and Porte. I guess a 20 second penalty could have been a lost 2 mins pretty quickly at the business end of the stage. Not really in the spirit of it but a calculated decision. Two really tough days to go but to my mind only Quintana looks fresh enough (and is maverick enough) to have any hope of challenging. He surely has to storm the bastille tomorrow? Froome and especially Porte will be drained after today I imagine.

I wonder how Jaguar (who presumably drop some serious cash on the Sky circus) responded to Froome suggesting that the car "had a mechanical"?

Not very well I'd imagine. Particularly as it seems odd. What could they actually have fixed at the roadside on a modern car engine? More to the point, they were not prepared. I am sure riders sneak gels in all the time when out of camera shot in the closing stages so should probably have had a spare or two to hand when close to winning the TdF.

Looked like a very calaculated decision knowing the penalty would be fairly trivial. With only a few km to go I doubt that Froome would have lost so much time as to challenge his lead but it was clearly the first time he has struggled; perhaps a crumb of comfort to those chasing him.

Contador appears resigned to attacking on the descents. Qunitana and Rodriguez have to have a go on Saturday with another summit finish.

Gripping stuff.

Bruce

Since no-one else has commented on it......well done Chris Froome, fantastic ride and a great winners speech in contrast to last years incoherent rambling about raffles!

Now if only Cavendish could find a team that can actally lead him out consistently!

Jim

You wait almost 100 years for a British winner of the world's premier cycle race and then 2 come along at once! Chris Froome rode an absolute blinder to win and his strategy was far more aggressive than Bradley Wiggins performance last year. He thoroughly deserves his accolade and the comment in the victory speech that this jersey will remain in the history books was more evidence of his determination to succeed.

I think Mark Cavendish struggled for 2 reasons;

1. The Giro d'Italia was more punishing than usual because of the poor weather encountered during that race. Nobody has been able to perform in both of these tours consistently well this year. For example Cadel Evans finished 3rd in the Giro and 39th in the Tour. All the main contenders for the Tour categories skipped the race.

2. Omega haven't quite got their lead out train to perform properly. If they have to be reminded continually to "keep to one side of the road" during the final kms then that is proof that this is not the perfect lead out train as HTC used to deliver. But in the winter they will sign Mark Renshaw who has the ability to put Cav in the right place whether the rest of the lead out works or not.

Marcel Kittel has undoubtedly had the upper hand in the sprint finishes this year, but I wouldn't right off Mark Cavendish just yet.

Really enjoyed the race this year. Good route, Froome dominant but unlike last year people did have a go and put him under serious pressure. Qunitana a great find, loved his tiny frame and fluid style. Cadel Evans looks finished-bit sad really. Credit to Geraint Thomas for getting to paris too with his injury.

The 'is he clean' questions were handled as well as can be expected. Wish the French media in particular would be as insistent when looking a bit further back in the peleton where previously proven dopers or figures of significant suspicion seemed to escape the same questions (Contador, Costa, Valverde...the list continues).

Dreadful presentation ceremony by the way!

Bruce

It's been a great summer thus far - the three sports that I actively follow rugby, cycling and cricket all delivering entertaining spectacles (if following via internet feeds qualifies). 

re TdF - very entertaining and although Froome has a very ungainly style it seems to be pretty effective, even if he could probably fit in one of my trouser legs. I think the French press summarised it best when they said he's a skeleton x-ray with thighs.